OpenAlex
Input—per 1M tokens
Output—per 1M tokens
Context—tokens
WeightsClosed
About
OpenAlex is ranked #3 of 33 in academic research databases on Inferse. It runs on API, Browser extension, Self-hosted, Web. There is a free plan. Paid plans start at $416.67/mo.
Compared on academic research databases
- Free plan
- Yesopenalex.org
- Full-text access
- Yesopenalex.org
- Advanced search
- Yesopenalex.org
- Subject coverage
- multidisciplinaryopenalex.org
- Content types
- journal articles, conference papers, books, book chapters, datasets, dissertations, preprintsopenalex.org
- Theses and dissertations
- Yesopenalex.org
- Conference proceedings
- Yesopenalex.org
- Institutional access
- Yesopenalex.org
Facts
- Product
- OpenAlex is a free and open catalog of the world's scholarly research system.explore.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- API
- The REST API is a connected graph of works, authors, sources, institutions, topics, and more, with list, filter, search, sort, group, page, field selection, and single-entity queries.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Website
- The website supports search, filtering, and exporting result lists without coding.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Snapshot
- The complete database snapshot is free to download from Amazon S3 without an AWS account.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Data license
- OpenAlex data is released under the CC0 public-domain license.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- CLI
- The official CLI handles parallel downloads, checkpointing, rate limiting, retries, and resume for bulk terminal workflows.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Full text
- The full-text service provides PDFs and machine-readable TEI XML, with per-file downloads priced at $0.01 each.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Integrations
- Website exports support CSV, RIS for EndNote or Zotero, and TXT, while VOSviewer connects directly through the API.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Unpaywall
- Unpaywall is OpenAlex's legacy-format open-access API surface, including a browser extension and integrations with SFX, EBSCO Discovery Service, and 360 Link.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Security guidance
- OpenAlex passes externally sourced text fields through without sanitizing them and advises users to escape output and follow OWASP XSS-prevention practices.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Support
- Member includes community support, Member+ includes ticket-based help for critical API bugs, and Partner includes full ticket-based support for API and data issues.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Organization
- OpenAlex is operated by a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all code is open source.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
Best OpenAlex alternatives
See all 12
7.4 CORE Free free plan, no paid price published Free plan 
7.4 ERIC See plans price on the maker's page 
7.4 The Lens $83.33/mo first paid tier Free plan 7.3 Directory of Open Access Journals See plans price on the maker's page 
6.0 JSTOR $16.58/mo first paid tier Free plan 
5.9 AGRICOLA Free free plan, no paid price published Free plan 
Where it ranks on Inferse
Sources
- explore.openalex.org/about· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/api/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/overview/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/snapshot/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/pricing/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/cli/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/how-to/integrations/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/unpaywall/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/member-plus/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/member/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/partner/· checked 30 Sept 2026